Govt wants 1000 English teachers from neighbours

Govt wants 1000 English teachers from neighbours

Rwanda has asked its English speaking neighours to avail
some 1000 teachers following the country’s switch from French to
English as the language of instruction in schools.

Rwanda wants teachers from Uganda and other neighbouring countries to support its switch to English.

The teachers will be posted to various primary and junior
secondary schools. Others are slated to get jobs at the government’s
International Languages and Management Institute (ILMI), which was
commissioned early this year to teach English to local citizens,
business executives, and public officials English.

Aggrey
Kibenge, Uganda’s education ministry’s spokesperson, in a press
statement, said Rwanda communicated about the vacancies on September
27, 2010.

“The Education Service Commission in collaboration
with the ministry of education of Rwanda announced that the government
of Rwanda has embarked on a massive recruitment of teachers of
English,” he wrote. “Teachers (will be sourced) from within and outside
Rwanda; including the East African Community region.”

Rwandan officials said the same message has been sent to Kenya and Tanzania.

In 2008, the government of Rwanda decided to switch from French to English as one of the languages of instruction.

As a result, a number of Ugandan teachers have been getting jobs there to train Rwandan teachers to speak and write English.

However,
Rwanda’s remuneration of teachers is not far better than Uganda’s.
According to an article published in the New Times, Rwanda’s daily
newspaper, last year, primary teachers in public institutions earn
between Frw20,000 (about sh73,666) to Frw62,000 (about sh228,365) per
month depending on their experience.

On the other hand,
drivers in many government institutions, the paper said, earn between
Frw100,000 (about sh368, 330) to Frw150,000 (about sh552, 495).

It is not clear if the Ugandan teachers would be paid as expatriates.

Celebrating
the world teachers’ day last week, Rwandan teachers demanded for a pay
rise, saying what they earn does not match with the market prices.

In Uganda, a primary teacher earns between sh240,000 and sh260,000 monthly depending on experience.